Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

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Tusheti Protected Landscape will increase by 2245 hectares.

At today’s session, the Government of Georgia reviewed and approved the initiative of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture to expand Tusheti's protected landscape by 2245 hectares. 

Following the adoption of the draft law, Tusheti's protected landscape will cover 34,280 hectares.

Under the respective draft law, Tusheti's protected landscape will include the village of Tbatana and its surrounding area, which is crucial, as Tbatana and its surrounding area serve as a connecting corridor between the Batsara Strict Nature Reserve, Ilto Managed Reserve, and Tusheti Protected Areas, ensuring continuity of ecological processes in this vast area. Moreover, granting the status of a protected landscape to the village of Tbatana and its surrounding area is based on the proposal of the "Tushebi Community Council" and has been agreed upon with the local community and self-government.

The regulations on the management of the protected landscape will include the expanded area, which will assist in restoring the historical appearance of the settlement that has existed there for two centuries, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, and improve the ecotourism potential.

The establishment of ecotourism infrastructure in the mentioned area will increase the number of tourists, which will have a favorable impact on the socioeconomic status of the local community.

One hundred protected areas of different categories have been established in Georgia to promote the protection of biodiversity. Currently, protected areas include more than 912 thousand hectares, covering around 13.1% of the total territory in the country.

We actively continue to work in this direction. The draft law on " Creation and Management of Guria National Park" has been submitted to the Parliament of Georgia. This year, studies will be conducted to establish protected areas in Samegrelo and Zemo Svaneti regions and expand the existing protected area in the Racha region.

We continue to work on developing the ecotourism infrastructure. This year, we will complete the construction of 1,200 km of hiking trails and accompanying tourist-recreational infrastructure in 15 protected areas, for which more than GEL 30 million has already been allocated. Furthermore, in 2024, new ecotourism infrastructure will be created in at least 10 locations, for which GEL 10 million will be spent.

1,070,000 visitors were recorded in Georgia's protected areas in 2023, representing a 19% increase compared to the data in 2022 due to implementing the appropriate policy for developing the protected areas in the country.